@kensanata All the more so because we're already paying for it.

Worldwide, advertising is a $500 billion industry.

If you consider that the Global Rich -- the populations of the US, EU, Canada, Japan, and Australia, more-or-less, comprise about a billion people, then by some rough and complex maths, the cost is $500 per person, per year. And yes, the rest of the world gets to ride free. If we just want to treat Internet advertising, the cost is $100/year. Indexed to income, you can apply these to the $30k average income of these countries to get the effective rate, 0.33% for all Internet advertising, about 1.6% for all advertising total.

And remember: that's not an additional household cost, it's replacing the amount already spent in advertising through goods and services.

Based on US Bureau of Labour Statistics data for communications workers, the amount would make much more money available for professional authors and other creatives, even extrapolating out worldwide. Again, take the money off the top, distribute it to those actually producing works, and cut out all the complex, privacy-invading, inefficient, anxiety-inducing payment apparatus.

• Professional authors and writers (including copywriters, excluding journalists, editors, and technical writers): 136,500 positions, median pay $59k
• Editors: 117,000 positions
• Reporters: 54,000
• Technical writers: 52,000 (presumably most directly hired)

That's roughly 300,000 positions. An off-the-cuff estimate of 1 million positions worldwide seems within reason. And we might also include musicians and film-makers. The tax income would be sufficient for a $500k annual salary.

(From: https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/4r683b/repudiation_as_the_micropayments_killer_feature/)

@njoseph

#UniversalContentSyndication #advertising #InformationIsAPublicGood #PublicGoods #InformationEconomics #Economics